The Federal Reserve And The Usurpation Of The Constitution

Article 1, section 8 -- The Congress shall have power to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures.

Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that Congress has the authority to delegate the above clause to a private banking firm. By the very nature of this clause, the Federal Reserve is unconstitutional, yet this institution is so deeply embedded into our financial system system, abolishing it would more than likely be more trouble than it's worth. With that in mind, everyone should support Ron Paul's bill to audit the Fed and see what they have been up to for all of these years.

So, where did the Federal Reserve come from? How and why was it unconstitutionally implemented to do what Congress is supposed to do? To answer that, we have to go back to the late 1800's and a little island off the coast of Georgia called Jekyll Island and the group of millionaire financiers that bought it.

In 1886 a group of millionaires purchased Jekyll Island and converted it into a hunting club and winter retreat and by 1900 the club's members boasted 1/6th of the worlds wealth; names like Vanderbilt, Pulitzer and Astor to name a few. Heads of state were refused admission to the club, such as Churchill and President McKinley.

During the first decade of the 1900's we were in the midst of a recession much like today and in 1907, the New York Stock Exchange fell to almost 50% from its peak in 1906. This sudden drop in stocks caused the Panic of 1907 or better known as the 1907 Banker's Panic, which was allegedly caused by J.P. Morgan. Other reasons include a failed attempt to corner the market of the United Copper Company and the downfall of the Knickerbocker Trust Company. The panic spread nationwide causing many banks and businesses to collapse, thus causing runs on banks and trust companies.

Prior to the Panic of 1907 there were several others in the early and mid 1800's. In May of 1908, Congress passed the Aldrich-Vreeland Act which established the National Monetary Commission to look into the panic and to research legislation to regulate banking. Senator Nelson Aldrich (R-RI), who was the chairman, left for Europe and stayed for almost two years to study their banking systems.

In 1910, seven wealthy financiers left by train from Hoboken, New Jersey to Jekyll Island. Supposedly, none of these men referred to each other by their last name as noted by Frank Vanderlip of the Saturday Evening Post:

"There was an occasion near the close of 1910 when I was as secretive, indeed as furtive, as any conspirator. I do not feel it is any exaggeration to speak of our secret expedition to Jekyll Island as the occasion of the actual conception of what eventually became the Federal Reserve System. 'We were told to leave our last names behind us. We were told further that we should avoid dining together on the night of our departure. We were instructed to come one at a time...where Senator Aldrich's private car would be in readiness, attached to the rear end of the train for the South. Once aboard the private car, we began to observe the taboo that had been fixed on last names. Discovery, we knew, simply MUST NOT HAPPEN, or else all our time and effort would be wasted..."

These seven men were:

Nelson Aldrich - Republican whip and father-in-law of John D. Rockefeller Jr.

Charles D. Norton - President of the First National bank of New York.

A. Piat Andrew - Assistant Secretary of the Treasury.

Frank A. Vanderlip - President of the National City Bank of New York and representing William Rockefeller.

Henry P. Davison Sr. - J.P. Morgan Partner.

Benjamin Strong - Head of JP Morgan's Bankers Trust and later chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Paul M. Warburg - Partner of Kuhn, Loeb & Company and representing the Rothschilds and Warburgs in Europe.

Paul Warburg was the chief drafter of the plan and it was a relatively simple one using sophistry and deceit. The United States wanted no part of a central bank, so rather than attaching those two words to it they merely gave it another name and it was to be largely controlled by Congress, but, the majority of the members was selected by private banks that owned its stock.

The reason why Americans didn't want anything to do with a central bank was due to the economic chaos going on in Europe. What they witnessed at the time in Europe was large scale deficit spending causing wide spread debt, much like what we are seeing today.

At any rate, the deception was to prevent the public from thinking that the Federal Reserve would be controlled from New York, where a system of twelve regional banks was created and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York controlling the entire system. The President was to select the board and its chairman, however, Colonel Edward House noted that the board would serve a term that would "put them out of the power of the President."

The power given by the Constitution to coin and regulate money was thus usurped and placed in the hands of private bankers, who could then expand and contract credit as they pleased and to whomever they wished.